Public Bid Opening

Lewis County Schools hosted a public bid opening regarding the construction of a new High School on Friday, November 3, 2023.

The bids were opened and read aloud by Project Manager, Gary Clardy, and Architect, Brad Martin. Witnessing the event were several officials from Lewis County Schools and Lewis County Government.

Nabholz Construction out of Portland, TN, was the low bidder, with a base bid price of $38,535,746. The next lowest bid came from R.G. Anderson out of Nashville, TN, with a base bid price of $39,170,000. A third bid was submitted by Barger Construction out of Yuma, TN, who had a base bid price of $40,126,427.

Based on the low construction bid price of $38,535,746, as well as the projection of approximately $1,464,254 in other costs such as architect and engineering fees, Fire Marshall costs, and a contingency fund, the total cost of the project is estimated at $40,000,000.

According to Director of Schools, Dr. Tracy McAbee, the school system will be making a down payment of $12,000,000 toward the project, leaving $28,000,000 for the county to borrow to build the new High School. The USDA will be loaning the county those funds for the project, and the annual loan payment is estimated to be around $1,091,000 over the next 40 years.

That payment will be made using the $725,000 in funding the school has been setting aside in its budget for years to make this debt service payment, combined with $366,000 in new revenue generated from the quarter-cent sales tax increase that Lewis County voters approved for the new High School in 2022. Therefore, no property tax increases will be needed for this project, which is expected to begin soon.

Dr. McAbee stated, "It has been a bumpy road to get to this point, and the School Board has put in a lot of hard work to get us here. I appreciate their vision and grit to make this possible. I want to thank the citizens of Lewis County for passing the sales tax referendum to fund the project. I also want to thank the County Commission and City of Hohenwald for allocating their portion of the sales tax revenue to help with the payment on the high school."